Leo W. Gerard

International President, United Steelworkers

Republicans want to kill the government that accomplished that. They want to go back to Downton Abbey days. The rich stay rich; the poor stay servants.

Elliott Negin

Director of News & Commentary, Union of Concerned Scientists

Too often the news media have provided a platform for fossil fuel industry-funded think tanks and advocacy groups to make spurious claims about global warming and renewable energy and allowed them to pass themselves off as disinterested parties promoting free markets and limited government.

Jackie Barden, Nicole Hockley, Nelba Marquez-Greene and Francine Wheeler

As "Sandy Hook Moms," we often hear the phrase "I can't imagine what you are going through." Well, please imagine it. Imagine what it's like to lose a son or daughter to gun violence and encourage your elected officials to do the same.

Michael E. Mann

Director of Penn State Earth System Science Center; Author of 'Dire Predictions' and 'The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars'

This past week, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere exceeded 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time in at least 4 million years. Here's a simpler way to put it: pollution in the air, the kind that captures greenhouse gases and makes our planet warmer, just reached the highest level ever in recorded history.

HuffPost Radio

Spitzer and Matalin debate if Benghazi will prove to be more Whitewater than Watergate. Is Toomey gutsy to chide the Right for opposing his bipartisan bill just to stymie Obama? Are tyrannical feds buying up ammo to undermine gun rights?

Jared Bernstein

Fmr. Obama administration economist; CNBC and MSNBC contributor

When economic "rents" or market failures provide economic benefits to weaker groups -- those with less stature or power in society -- efforts to eradicate such "inefficiencies" may further empower dominant elites in ways that are counterproductive for the larger society.

Tom Engelhardt

Editor, TomDispatch.com

After the Soviet Union disappeared in 1991, nuclear weapons did, too -- without going away. The American and Russian arsenals, and the nuclear geography that underlay them, remained in place, just largely unremarked upon. In the meantime, the weaponry itself spread.

Diana Butler Bass

Author, "Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening"

Although I've never seen it on a pastel flowered greeting card, Mother's Day honors a progressive feminist, inclusive, non-violent vision for world community

Matthew Dowd

Political strategist

As we approach Mother's Day this Sunday, it is time to take a moment to reflect broadly on women and their role in this world. I think the values of a culture are reflected in how women are treated, both in what society expects of them and what they value in themselves.

Shannyn Moore

Just a girl from Homer, Alaska

Our country's founding principles of habeus corpus were in a direct response to the "lock them away in the Tower" abuses in Britain. We were going to be different. Oh, I know Guantanamo isn't on American soil, but our flag flies over that prison -- the same one we pledge "liberty and justice for all" to.

Bill Moyers and Michael Winship

There is an alternative to force, blood, and suffering. It's called democracy. Yes, there is plenty of injustice, greed and sheer wickedness. But don't mourn the fact -- organize.

Mary Bottari

Center for Media and Democracy, ALECexposed.org and PRWatch.org

Media touted the event without looking deeper. Clips the day after did the same. Nary a mention of Pete Peterson or his vicious austerity agenda which will slash government spending, kill jobs, condemn students to higher rates of debt and make it much harder for graduates to succeed.

T.A. Ridout

International Affairs, Politics, Society, Economics

If President Obama is concerned about his legacy, closing Guantanamo should be at the top of his list. President Bush created this mess, but it has fallen to Obama to fix it. Sometimes a leader has to ignore the polls and simply do what is right.

Richard (RJ) Eskow

Writer; host, 'The Breakdown'; Senior Fellow, Campaign for America's Future

Granted, most mothers aren't as adamantly opposed to this day as mine. But if you're not the card-giving type -- or if you are, but are also looking for more socially conscious commemorations of motherhood -- here are seven fine activist ways to honor the mothers of America.

Christine Pelosi

Chair, CA Democratic Party Women's Caucus

After morning cuddles with my Isabella, I went to San Francisco City Hall this morning to join the Healing Circle to connect with moms who have lost children to gun violence.

Rebecca Bond

Co-founder, Evolve

We all give ourselves labels: liberal, conservative, gun owner, gun reformer, but none of those are instinctive. They are not in our DNA. Perhaps maternal instincts are the key to solving the horrific problem of gun violence.

Jose Antonio Tijerino

President and CEO of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation

Yes, I have a chip on my shoulder (although I consider it a constructive chip) when it comes to such matters. And that chip turned into a chunk when I read Jason Richwine's appalling doctoral dissertation.